I was speaking to a fly shop owner on the phone today, and she told me that
Orvis was tossing in a free spool with the purchase of a Mid-Arbor or BBS
reel for January. I went to Orvis' site, and saw that the BBS reels now begin
at $119. They failed to change the BBS's description, and it still reads "starting as low as $89". Luckily for me, I'll be getting a free spool
on Friday, and found a new british BBS last night for $109 !

That's a 33% jump. I WAS considering one until this. I also see that Bass Pro raised the price on their 2.2 oz reel from $89 to $109 (22%). Lots of good closeout deals out there. The Ross Rhythms at around $130-$150 are looking really good.

Thats not the only thing. It looks like they did a $10 bump across the board on all the fly lines. I haven't check other manufacturers but i'm guessing $70 bucks will now be the new price point for a good fly line.

In conventional fishing tackle I have notice companies like Rapala raising prices on their tackle. Some fear that it will reach $10+ soon. The economic crisis is being felt across the board. Let's just hope fly shops and stores can survive the next hurtle, commercial foreclosures.

Metals prices are getting higher as the dollar falls though metal prices alone shouldn't ad that much to the cost of a couple ounces of aluminum in a reel. Inflation and deflation are occuring simultaneously supposedly. Food and sporting goods are getting hit by inflation for sure!